Relax, Honey!
by kaminokoe
Summary: A completely tensed-up and over-worked doctor goes on a "fun" trip with a devilish captain who tries his best to make him …relax. Who would have thought that all Akari needed was a proper… !
1. Chapter 1

**Relax, Honey!**

Summary

A completely tensed-up and over-worked doctor goes on a "fun" trip with a devilish captain who tries his best to make him …relax. Who would have thought that all Akari needed was a proper… !

Introduction

This little fic was inspired by the newest developments in the Karneval manga (ch. 90-94) where Akari and Gareki go on board of Hiratos Airship to accompany them to Reeberuganze on a special mission. I'm looking forward to the new chapter but also have my own ideas of what could be happening on Airship 2! ^^

\- just to let you know: I was trying to get something across, a feeling between Hirato and Akari that's quite different from their all present sexual tension but also evident in the manga. Tell me if I managed to do so? More about that in the remarks section at the end of this chapter.

\- Just to let you know 2: Of course, when writing the story, I didn't know how the newest section of the manga would develop… which is also why Akari boards with his crew as opposed to the manga's storyline.

Yeah and sorry for any mistakes, this needs a rewrite I might go back to that chapter to edit later (I did that with my other story as well… ) but for now I wanted to finally post it as I've been writing on it for a few months now.

* * *

 **Chapter 1**

Gareki was bending over some scientific books while trying to do a test run of the experiments they were going to apply in Reeberuganze. For once, somehow contented with his pupil, Akari said nothing and just watched a little before giving the raven-haired youth an acknowledging nod. Despite his intention not to teach Gareki, or provide him with any of the training a normal apprentice would receive, he'd somehow relented to a certain extent when he saw how committed and focussed the boy had been all the time.

Not that he would admit that in front of him or that he had become soft on him or anything the like. He'd still continue to apply his authoritative methods. Being strict was the only way he knew that would lead to unrestricted dedication at this rebellious age. If the boy's thoughts strained too far from his goal, he'd regret it sooner or later. He understood how hard expectations were on him right now, but so they'd always been on himself. Gareki would be grateful for that some day!

It was not before 1 am that the researcher suddenly felt exhaustion settling in his every joint, most certainly caused by his new additional tasks and the fact that his research projects had also increased lately. Despite of that, there was of course no complaining, it were mostly his ideas, after all. All the more, his paperwork admitted no delay as their expedition forms and charts needed a refinement as detailed as possible for Gareki to at least understand the principles. So. it was already decided that he would be glued to his desk tonight, nonetheless.

Oh… last but not least, he had to arrange for their departure… _right._

The thought alone caused an unwelcome tingle in his stomach. He wondered if there might have been something unhealthy in his lunch today. _First things first,_ he thought, when he was alreadydialling a number saved to his short-cut list.

It was only seconds later that his interlocutor picked up at the other end, which almost gave him a start though he wouldn't let anything show.

"Akari-san?" the 2nd ship captain answered with a slightly sleep-drugged voice.

"Hirato. I'm sorry for contacting you this late. We had a busy day so I almost forgot to give you notice, however, …I just realised it was inevitable."

"Oh, how cruel of you…. I guess you must have finished preparations for our little trip together then, right? When shall I come to pick you up?" His response was still polite and provokingly cheerful, nonetheless - a behaviour that was apparently deeply ingrained in his character, or so it seemed.

"Preparations are done by tomorrow morning. Pick us up as soon as you're ready," the doctor retorted tersely.

A light chuckle. "Well then, I shall be ready at your service at 9 am. Good night, Akari-san."

"See you tomorrow."

* * *

9 AM RESEARCH TOWER - LANDING AREA

At 9 sharp, just as promised, Circus Airship 2 arrived at Research Tower to pick them up. Akari, Gareki and their research team were greeted by an extraordinarily good-humoured captain and some sheep. "Gaareeekiiiiii." ….and an outrageously good-humoured Blonde with an equally overjoyed silver-haired little boy in tow. Gareki was almost run over by them when they literally suffocated him in their embrace… or rather, Yogi's embrace.

"How have you been? You have to tell us everything. This will be a lot of fun!" Yogi beamed, teary-eyed with joy. "Let's have a welcome party later."

"Actually, I'm here for work this time." Gareki murmured averting his eyes ostensibly embarrassed.

While the young combat-medic-to-be was still occupied with getting Yogi's hands off him, Hirato made to approach his guests.

"Reebugeraze expeditions is looking forward to welcoming you on board", Hirato announced with a broad smirk on his face making a low bow deliberately in front of Akari. "Good morning Akari-san. Are you feeling well? You look a bit stressed."

Though, Akari seemed entirely unimpressed by Hirato's display of faked politeness, one could literally feel the air heating up around them. A trained eye could have told that the pink-haired physician was already seething with rage inside.

"Being in your presence alone is enough to look 'stressed'." He retorted sharply, attracting nervous stares around him. On realising that, he whirled around barking an order: "What are you staring at! Let's not waste any time and get going immediately."

With these words, he strode past the source of his annoyance who, after a bemused glance in his direction, tended to Gareki. Akari's pupil was about to hurry after his mentor and though he didn't show it in the open, the youth somehow looked a bit strained as well.

"Don't worry Gareki," Hirato said putting a reassuring hand on his shoulder, as if he wanted to confirm ' _life ain't easy with him, I know'._ "You'll see, … after this little trip, he will be heavenly rested." The allusion was enough to cause another stir of murmuring among the SSS-rank's subordinates who were following them inside. "And you probably will be, too." He added in a lower voice giving him a knowing wink. Gareki nodded slightly perplexed. "Ah."

After everything had been brought on board, they were shown their private chambers and the sterile area that had specifically been equipped for them to serve as a laboratory. To Akari's displeasure, who was constantly mumbling something like _'this is not a fun trip…'_ or _'waste of time…'_ they were also introduced to the ship's recreational and wellness department with an invitation to use everything to their heart's content. Although, it was not the first time Akari was on Circus' 2nd ship, he had never spent a considerable amount of time up here which is why he, in fact, didn't know there were such extensive leisure facilities integrated.

But then again, he wasn't particularly surprised since, after all, it was not other than this hedonistic incubus who was commanding this ship.

* * *

All the explaining and additional field work preparation had rendered the researcher with the peach-coloured hair utterly spent when it was only early evening. They would reach Reebugeraze, the following morning, but as it was now, his body would be completely useless by then, unless he takes some immediate counter-measures.

What he needed was a proper work out, he knew. However, using the fitness facilities on Airship 2 was out of the question, his body was already aching all over. Therefore, he decided to eventually make use of the ship's wellness features and have a massage first to loosen up his muscles a little bit. After that ,he would do some exercise in his private suite, take a bath and he'd be fit to work 24 hours straight tomorrow if necessary! _Good plan_ , he thought.

It was only an hour later, when he was lying on a massage bank face-down, only sparsely covered by a thin towel around his lower body and the tentative hands of a young masseur were skimming over his back. He was kneading in a muscle relaxant oil, or rather than kneading, it was like gently caressing …

He had never been fond of being surrounded by infatuated, fangirling women, so he'd opted to choose male massage therapists only,… however, … this would-be masseur seemed to be incompetent as hell. _Geez, where did they get their license?_

As his treatment had only just started, he settled for stating his preferences of a deep tissue massage (involving the second and third layers of muscles) articulating quite clearly that he was not the sensitive type of person.

He started complaining only 5 minutes later, even tried to sit up which made his body ache all over again.

Visibly shocked by his patient's fiery temperament, the flaxen-blonde, admittedly attractive practitioner tried to calm him down. "Akari-Sensei, I'm really sorry, I will try my best, please relax, this way your muscles will only tense up again. Hesitatingly, he put both hands on the doctor's shoulders, and gently ushered him to lay down again.

"As if they could ever relax this way!" Akari snarled at the poor guy.

 _As if they could ever relax under you, you….!_ He supressed any further argument for the time being and reluctantly laid back down again, wondering why he hadn't brought his own masseur with him.

His muscles often got awfully strained as a result of his hard work, so he liked to indulge in a massage from time to time. Even if personally appointed massagers at Research Tower were treating him with restraint as well, they at least had the guts to press down a little bit never mind that Akari actually preferred pressure that almost went as far as pain.

He sighed. Will he ever be treated the way he needed it… _without having them discuss his slightly masochistic tendencies afterwards_ , _that is_... Unfortunately though, nobody was bold enough to hurt Dr. Akari Dezart not even if just a little.

After the initial fluffy touches were done, the doctor was about to run out of patience yet again. _I don't have time all day!_ He thought, when there was a little pause and let out another sigh that rather resembled a grunt. _How unprofessional..._ At least, his superficial muscle tissue felt a bit less stiffened by now.

Adding more massage oil first, the young masseur resumed his work. His hands finally started working deeper. After only a few more seconds, the young man's hands felt out the most tensed areas between the back of his neck and the shoulder blades only to slowly sink in, letting his thumbs and ball of the hand roll through the deeper muscles. Akari gradually was losing the will to complain. _God, this actually feels really good now_. A small moan escaped his mouth.

"Yes, right there!" he ordered and the next push to one of his trigger points was so intense it almost made him scream. He will never complain about a gentle foreplay again, he mentally noted.

The healer's hands continued to traverse his skin in a stimulating pattern of alternating between firm pressure and sensual stroking that just felt right. And there, Akari was beginning to ease up some of the tension that had got stuck for almost two weeks now. The next thing that crossed his mind just came from his lips intuitively .

"Mmmh, your hands are magical…" _And he meant it._ " Say…"

The magician had started to stimulate another muscle knot making him twitch, before the "sweet ache" he was longing for came running down his spine. Indulging in this sensation, it took him some seconds to regain focus.

"Say …, wouldn't you be interested in working at Research Tower? I'm going to pay you double your salary, how's that?" he asked, his voice had become breathy and gentle. What was your name again?"

A chuckle escaped the young Blonde's lips. "Oh, I'd be delighted, though… I'm not sure if you can afford to double my salary Akari‑san. But if it's you, I might deign to work even for a meagre pay, how's that?"

What followed after the first moments of shock had passed, echoed through almost all floors of Airship 2.

"HIRATO!" He spun around with a sudden jolt, scandalised by the sight of the impersonate nightmare vision of horror grinning down at him showing an expression of pure innocence on his face while bending over his half-naked body.

Upon finally realising that he had fallen victim to this inveterate bastard's deliberate provocation yet again, his lips were trembling with seeping rage, a sign for Hirato to better move out of the doctor's close-combat zone immediately.

"GET THE HELL OUT OF HERE!" He screamed trying to punch Hirato, but with his still sluggish movements, he missed his target and more looked like a helpless kitten fighting, which the captain found rather endearing, indeed.

Hirato had almost reached the door when a bottle filled with massage oil came flying in his direction only to barely miss his head and shatter into pieces when it smashed against the door frame.

"You'll hear of this! Don't you dare touching me with those filthy hands of yours ever again."

"Oh, that's quite ungrateful for someone who just luxuriated in the skilful arts of my … " _magical hands"_ , don't you think?"

Having no other weapons left at his disposal, the incensed little cat sprang to its feet ready to rush at Hirato who was attempting to escape.

The seemingly fleeing fiend hesitated in astonishment for a millisecond before his smile grew even wider. A radiating sight was just unfolding right before his eyes. … he examined the now fully exposed beauty in front of him before he boldly took a few steps back towards Akari.

"By the way,… your towel … " he commenced emphasising every syllable while bending down to pick up the white piece of fabric that had fallen from the doctor's lean hips. "….fell down."

He carried out his actions with his gaze remaining fixated on the other man's pair of fervid rubies, which was admittedly quite the challenge even for him given the situation, that is. He didn't regret it though, the slight red tinge spreading across the doctor's cheeks on realising the shameful condition he was in was too adorable to miss it.

With a furious look, the denuded doctor whipped the towel out of his tantalizer's hands and wrapped it back around his hips hastily. Averting his gaze, he pointed to the door.

"Get out of my sight, immediately!" he snarled at the commander.

"As you wish, doctor." The captain answered without protest, adopting an obedient facial expression in an instant… then, he made towards the door after making a deep bow in front of the SSS-ranked.

"Should you be in need of my services in the future again, just give me a call. I'll gladly-"

"LEAVE!" -

Unresistingly, Hirato closed the door behind him, leaving a fuming but heavenly relaxed researcher behind.

* * *

 _Author's remarks:_

 _What I wanted to show was their consideration for each other. With Akari its more hidden, e.g. when Hirato asks him when to pick him up he says whenever he is ready (he doesn't name a time but adepts to the others schedule, which is quite astounding as we all know how tight Akaris schedule is and that every minute of non-work is basically a waste of time for him *grin*), given that, Hirato also kept their conversation short and chose to come at 9 am in the hope the doc would get some sleep until then, as the fact that "preparations weren't finished by morning" didn't slip his attention. Akari wouldn't admit that he actually is too tired to prepare the papers, he'd just do so._

 _It takes a loooong time for me to write stories as English is not my native language, so I don't know when I'll update again. But I'll try to continue this in any case, as I have a few ideas. If you have ideas, please let me know. Any other comments are welcome, as well! They motivate me to write on, in fact._

 _All of you who have read my other unfinished Hirakari fic: I actually started to write another chapter, let's see if I can hold it up._


	2. Chapter 2

_Author's remarks:_

 _This chapter mainly shows a little bit of Tsukitachi's view of things mostly not shown in the manga. After all, he knows Hirato better than anyone else. ^^ Also, we hear Hirato's "reasons" for attacking helpless Akari-chan. I know my chapters are short but it takes a lot of time for me to produce a new one so that I decided to release it right away instead of waiting years to complete the next 3.000 words ^^ and rewrite the first 2.000 again and again. Anyway, enjoy._

 _-To make it less confusing I put Tsuki's thoughts in rectangular brackets: [ ]_

- _Also I'd like to say a big thank you for every single one of the 9 kudos left and the one comment I got on Fanfiction()net by a guest. Don't hesitate to comment anything, also mistakes or criticism is welcome!_

* * *

HIRATOS PRIVATE LOUNGE – 8 PM

"You did WHAT?"

Tsukitachi leaned forward in his armchair, almost spilling his outrageously expensive red wine on the probably equally expensive piece of furniture. [Geez, y _ou're behaving like an elephant, you know?_ ]. He was grinning stupidly blinking his eyes for a minute of vicarious embarrassment.

As occasion arose, he and his best buddy had decided to meet up for one of their infamous little "tea parties", this time, on account of a certain someone's childish, if not almost suicidal actions, without their third "regular" member in tow. Though Tsukitachi did his best to convince the doctor, he remained unyielding and even went nasty towards Tsuki in the end. The red-head made a slightly sulky face at recalling his conversation with their pink-haired favourite physician. He'd said something along the lines of he would 'NEVER join another tea party with Hirato and him again'…amongst other things. It roughly went like this:

"Why so severe, Akari-chan, hehe?" _[It's only me Tsukitachi, you know.]_

"You can ask that your other half!" -Evil stare-

"Wait a minute, Akari-chan! _[Whom are you calling my other half?_ _]_

 _…_ I think, you're misinterpreting something here, it's not exactly like that. He's not my other half." _[Don't put the blame on me!]_

He was still grinning in his innocent manner while holding his hands up in defence, however, judging from the look on the doctor's face, this conversation was long over. Tsuki hesitated for a moment pondering. "Could it be that…?" [ _Hirato must have done something immensely stupid again!]_ … he figured.

"Come on, let's all be friends again, a few glasses of nice French tea will even out all of your little difficulties and sorrows in a heartbeat!

Akari crossed his arms before his chest brooking no compromise. _[Definitely!]_

"In case you don't know", the researcher began. "There are things that can only get worse with a few glasses of French tea! Now if you excuse me…!"

 _[Geez… those two… ! Everything I have to take into my own hands…]_

"But..! Maybe you should talk about the things that bother you. You know, too much pent-up anger and frustration are really bad for you!" His face showing a worried expression, he obviously didn't realise how he was just about to risk his neck with careless talk.

Somehow, in retrospect, he should have known he'd hit a nerve _[_ _….]_

Akari pushed him out of the way impatiently and not exactly gently . "Don't you dare lecturing me about your way of conflict boozing would be good for me! The answer is NO! Now, stop bugging me! And better take him straight down to hell with you!"

With that it was really game over. Akari had built up a wall of defence around himself that was almost impenetrable at least for Tsukitachi. The usually optimistic and light-hearted captain looked a bit like the dog left out in the rain. However, he knew what to do next!

Thus, they were sitting together in Hirato's personal suite, in the company of several bottles of the 2nd ship captain's favourite Bordeaux that he rarely was able to get ahold of normally because they mainly sold it overseas. It truly was an exquisite, wholehearted elixir saved up for "certain" times. And, as to be expected, his cool and self-composed comrade started to loosen up sip by sip.

"A little bit of body contact can mend an already alienated relationship, didn't you know?"

He tried to look cunning but failed in the attempt when his half-opened slightly glassy eyes and the fact that he had become significantly less secretive than his usual self, betrayed his not quite so sober, but all the more talkative state of mind. He was just in the right mood to talk about "things".

" …which is even good, now that we are on the same ship and have to work together so closely", he continued his explanation, totally convinced that his motivations (or rather excuses) for ambushing an SSS ranked official in an helpless situation were perfectly justifiable.

 _[You went too far this time...]_

"You're a sublime idiot, aren't you?" Tsukitachi broke out in laughter seeing through Hiratos attempts to talk around … or rather distract from his affections towards Akari. "You just didn't want this masseur to treat him, ain't I right… Hirato-chan?" He added, the last syllable dripping with intentional provocation. Then, he cocked his head to one side giving his hopeless friend a look of genuine commiseration.

"Don't you think you have alienated your "relationship" even more now…?" Golden sympathetic eyes rolled sideways and rested on the commander in question for a moment before he sank back in his armchair swinging his half-full wine glass from side to side. Being obviously more than tipsy, the right words wouldn't come to his mind automatically anymore and he found the scene just rather hilarious. "You went way overboard, buddy!" He said, then took another sip without bothering to put his glass down again.

"Mmmh, do you think so, indeed? I guess I will need to apologise, then…" Hirato sighed in mock awareness of his wrong-doing . _You should have seen that cute expression on his face…then you'd understand that it was totally worth it._ He hummed quietly. An absent-minded, slightly mischievous smile appeared on his lips as he was casually resting his head on one hand.

"You know, he's too oblivious of his own surroundings… The boy was visibly intrigued and nearly awestruck by Akari-Sensei lying in front of him dressed like Adam." [ _Aren't you the one intrigued and awestruck?_ ] "I just helped out to release the poor guy and,…protected Akari-san from imminent proposals of the indecent sort to come." The 2nd ship's commander stated, keeping up his straight-faced expression without flinching. Tsukitachi, however, lost it at that point…

"Stop talking Hirato! I'm in stitches!" He was holding his stomach, his legs went up into the air on one side of the armchair as he threw his torso back over the edge of the other side. He was literally almost falling off, barely able to control his laughing fits. This was too amusing to take it seriously… He realised that he'd probably not be of any good help to his self-defeating friend in that situation, if anything, he would only make matters worse by far, as it was.

"What?" Hirato inquired. He himself, nevertheless, seemed unable to mould his poker-face back to norm.

"You're drunk!" The other man concluded triumphantly. "I'm not!" "You totally are..!" A moment of silence followed before the drunkard in question retaliated. "You too!"

Then, obviously inept to act their age, they both dissolved into boyish giggles wondering how it would have been had Akari joined them at this stage. Imagining his face was definitely too much to stay serious.

* * *

 _Next chapter, we will see more of Akari again, promise! ^^ He's gone into hiding for now, sulking. ^_^ So, Hirato had to get drunk as a matter of course! Tell me what you think, and if/how you think Hirato should apologize?_


End file.
